Despite the misleading name, this 'dworzec' never functioned as a train or bus station of any kind. Built in 1880-1881 in the Swiss chalet style, it originally served as Zakopane's first cultural centre, with a library, ballroom, conference room, and music/theatre stage. Twenty years later, disaster struck - a paraffin lamp burst during a ball, and before long the building was engulfed in flames, which swiftly reduced it to rubble. In 1902 Dworzec Tatrzański was rebuilt in the Zakopane style, this time using reliable brick. However, by that time cultural life had already moved to the ballroom of newly opened Morskie Oko hotel, and few socialites were interested in going back. Instead, Dworzec Tatrzański eventually reinvented itself as a restaurant, drawing prominent artists and mountaineers to its veranda from 1914 until the outbreak of WWII. After the war, the building became the Podhale headquarters of the Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society (PTTK), which it remains to this day.